Karatekas Collect 6 Medals

Qazvin Province team finished with six medals at the Central Asian Karate Championships held in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, December 24-26.

The team bagged three gold, one silver and two bronze medals in individual Kata division. Bahman Asgari in -84kg and Saleh Abazari in +84kg came first in their categories while Meysam Rashvand was second in the +84kg category, Varzesh3 reported.

Mohammad Hossein Ghasemi in -60kg and Ra’oof Dastafkan in -75kg both finished third. The team also secured the top spot in the kumite category.

Iran was in the West Asia group until recently but was shifted to Central Asia in the regional division of the continent.

Participating countries at the event were Afghanistan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and host country Uzbekistan.

Also, the Seminar for Referees and Coaches was held on the sidelines of the games in which all 19 referees from Iran received the passing grade.

Kumite and kata are two major divisions of karate. While kata focuses on learning martial art forms and techniques, kumite brings those forms into the one-to-one battle.